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JESSIE VARGAS AND THE SMARTEST MOVE OF HIS LIFE

By Paul Magno | November 21, 2017
JESSIE VARGAS AND THE SMARTEST MOVE OF HIS LIFE

Former welterweight titlist Jessie Vargas made the smartest decision of his life by jumping from Bob Arum’s protective custody to the deep welterweight waters of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). 

Let’s face it, there’s not a whole lot for a welterweight to do over at Top Rank these days, unless one aspires to be in the seemingly eternal “who-will-fight-Pacquiao-now” loop. But Vargas has been there and done that, sacrificed to the Filipino icon as defending WBO welterweight titlist one year ago for a career-high payout of $2.8 million. 

But Pacquiao was a bad styles match-up for Vargas and the decisive unanimous decision loss was hardly a surprise to anyone who knows anything about matchmaking. 

Post-Pacquiao, Vargas’ options were limited to a Timothy Bradley rematch or nothingness. And that nothingness became the only option left after Bradley announced his retirement earlier this year. For a while, Vargas was in the mix to face Australia’s Jeff Horn, who had decisioned Pacquiao for Vargas’ old belt in July, but nothing solid ever materialized. And, rather than wait around for another tough stylistic match-up in Terence Crawford for short money, the 28-year-old Mexican-American decided to make a change.

Vargas’ official move to PBC was not so much a business move as it was just plain common sense. 

As I wrote in Monday’s Notes from the Boxing Underground column:

“If you’re a welterweight, the place to be is with Al Haymon and PBC. That should go without question. Vargas may rank somewhere between Omar Figueroa and Shawn Porter when it comes to overall ability, but he’ll definitely get his chance to work his way up the ladder and he’ll make some good money on each and every rung.”

The PBC welterweight stable is deep and sound, with plenty of opportunities for growth. If a 147-pounder is serious about his career and is eager to find out where he really stands in the division, the Haymon outfit is where he wants to be. 

The PBC welterweight roster is rich with quality names such as Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, and Danny Garcia at the top of the food chain and tough, credible names such as Andre Berto, Lamont Peterson, Luis Collazo, Omar Figueroa, and Adrian Granados underneath. 

Jessie Vargas makes his PBC debut on December 15 against tough journeyman Aaron Herrera, but the big bouts and big money await in 2018. As I also wrote in Monday’s column, “you can just feel his bank book starting to bubble over in anticipation of the future deposits.”

The only sadness in this new leg of his career comes in the fact that godfather and father figure Rafael Garcia -- trainer, cutman, and handwrapping expert supreme -- recently passed away and won’t be around to see his godson wade into deep welterweight waters.

Garcia would’ve seen the honest, earnest Vargas take his solid skill set into a new territory where the final book WILL be written about just how good he is.

And, while he may not make it to the very top of a stacked 147 lb. class, he will get a fair shake at fighting his way there. 

This is a win-win for Vargas and, also, a win-win for fans. It’s not an Earth-shattering development in boxing by any stretch of the imagination, but having another solid fighter available to actually fight other solid fighters is always a good thing.

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